Trees, Love, And Other Unexplainable Stuff
by Irrevocable Truth
Summary: Natsume always wondered what made this tree so special. It was just a tree, for crying out loud. He eyed it intently, giving it a quick once-over. Hm. Still pink and brown.


It was _his_ tree.

Natsume stared at the sakura tree that stood in front of him.

He had an impassive expression etched on his face, but truth of the matter was, he was in deep contemplation.

He never found out why, but this sakura tree was precious to him. It was his personal favourite. For some reason, he found comfort just _sitting_ under it.

Really. It was just like any other cherry blossom tree in the academy grounds. It had pink petals that fell off at a certain time of the year. It had a brown, sturdy trunk, and lots of girls thought that it was a cute tree.

They thought_ all_ cherry blossom trees were cute. Except for the petal-less ones.

Natsume furrowed his brows and studied the said tree contemplatively.

His eyes were burning holes through the trunk of the tree—in the metaphorical sense, of course. He couldn't _bear _the thought of any harm coming to this tree.

He was just...really attached to this tree.

He sounded stupid feeling this way about a _tree_, but it was the truth. No use denying it.

He walked around the tree in an oblong—he refused to call it a circle because circles meant that all of the points were equally distant from the center and...eww, he sounded like some nerd.

Moving on.

As he walked around the tree, his eyes never left it. Then he stopped in front of the tree and eyed it up and down.

He could not find any reason why this tree was so special.

Finally, he decided to sit down under it. He shut his eyes and waited for all thoughts to just tune out and leave him in a peaceful, meditative state.

Of course, life despised Natsume Hyuuga.

He could never be peaceful for long.

"Hey Natsume," a familiar female voice chirped.

He opened his eyes. His eyes took a few blinks to get used to the sunshine. He then focused his gaze on the classic example of the female species in front of him.

Pigtails and cheerful smile added.

Mikan Sakura.

"Hn," he replied, a form of acknowledgement of her presence.f

"May I sit there?" she asked politely, pointing to a spot somewhere beside Natsume.

When Natsume did not reply, she took it as a yes and sat there.

She looked up and stared. Natsume saw this from his peripheral vision, taking in Mikan's form completely.

She had a really beautiful expression on her face: a smiling one. Natsume really liked her smile. It was so warm. And it made him feel really good inside. Like the pain just dissolved, you know?

Her eyes had a sparkle in them as she stared at something that Natsume couldn't quite think of. Were there flying pigs out there or something? He resisted the urge to look up and see for himself. He was _not _going to look as if he was interested.

Finally, Mikan put her gaze back in front of her. She still had that smile.

"Hey Natsume. You wanna know something?" Mikan asked as she turned around to face him.

Natsume stared at her blankly. He wondered whether or not to tell the truth. He _did _want to know. But should she know that?

Mikan laughed softly. "Well, silence always did mean yes to me," she said happily. "It's a secret, so you're promising never to tell anybody, alright?" Mikan looked at Natsume expectantly, holding out her hand, her pinky the only finger raised. "Pinky Promise," she stated.

Natsume forced his gaze onto the held out pinky with scrutiny.

Then he decided to hold out his pinky, too. It seemed like a childish way to make a promise, but he did it anyway. Mikan smiled even wider and shook his pinky.

"Well," she started. "I really think this tree is special." She pointed up to the petals and stems of the tree they were sitting under.

Apparently, that was what she was staring at earlier on.

"I don't know why exactly, but I think I have a hunch," Mikan smiled even brighter.

She smiled a genuine smile. A smile that was comforting, and warm. The smile that was reserved for and only for Natsume.

And then realization hit him.

Mikan got up, dusting off imaginary dirt from her skirt and blouse. "Well, anyway, maybe it's because I always think of someone whenever I see this tree. And that's why it's my favourite." She smiled again. "I have to be going now; I'll see you later then."

And with that, she walked off, her pig-tailed hair swinging along with her movements.

Natsume stared at her retreating figure, and he smiled to himself.

He got up as well, and assumed the position we first found him in. He looked at the tree, giving it a quick once-over, inspecting every detail.

He knew he was not going to find anything different, and that was exactly what he was hoping to find.

It was not because there was something physically different that made this tree special to him. In fact, his favourite tree could be any other tree here.

So long as he could just sit with the person he loved underneath that tree and talk about the stupidest things— such as trees –then he could easily claim that tree they sat under his favourite.

Because he loved this tree because it reminded him of her.

Of Mikan Sakura.

He turned around, and started walking away from the tree.

Later that night he was going to be sitting on one of its branches again, and he would be thinking about her.

He turned his head around, and took one more glance at his favourite tree.

No; it was not his favourite tree.

It was _their_ favourite tree.

**End.**

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**A/N: Well, first attempt at a oneshot. I hoped you liked it :)**

_Made a very minor change on June 04, 2009. Changed 'nice' to other adjectives because of something a reviewer pointed out. _


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